On This Mother's Day

I can't believe this is my third Mother's Day already. This week, so much has been made of mothers getting what they "really want" today--which, according to so many in the media, is time away from their families.

Maybe it's different if you have more than one kid or maybe it's different if your kids are older; but I don't feel this way. I understand that everyone needs down time, "me" time--but, to me, today is the day you get the gift card and the promise of a spa day.

What I want today is to spend time with my Munchkin, and to think about the reasons why I love being his mom--how he plays with my hair when he's tired or insecure. How he grabs my neck and hugs me tight sometimes. How he screams "MOMMY!" from the top of the stairs when I'm down in the kitchen. How he holds out his boo-boos to be kissed better.

How being his mother is making me a stronger and more confident person. With all the labels in my life, this is the one I'm most proud of.

Here is my journal entry from my first Mother's Day, when Munch was only about 6 weeks old, before I started this blog:

May 8, 2011

Today is my first Mother's Day--so weird to be on the receiving end this holiday! Hubs has done a wonderful job making it special. We have stayed conscious of Points, but also treated ourselves. For "brunch," we had healthy omelets from IHOP and bagels from Panera. We watched some CSI and then headed to the Rio (for the third time this weekend!) The sun was hot for the first part and then it got a bit overcast and breezy. We were in B&N a bit and then got Potbelly (first time since pregnancy!) and came home for more CSI--and presents! Hubs (and Munch!) did awesome. They gave me the Liam Neeson movie Taken, the new WW cookbook (can't wait to pick out recipes for the week!), an adorable Precious Moment of a mother rocking--that's Munch!--an infant, and from Blue Nile, a locket that says "Mom" with pictures of the boy inside and aquamarine earrings with little diamonds. I couldn't have asked for more!
--

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.

Munch Ate Chicken Nuggets

And the heavens opened and an angel choir sang HALLELUJAH!!

What is a momentous event for me would be what some mothers would only call "dinner." Or, this would be a momentous event for them, say, a year or more ago.

My son is 2 years old. And he is a picky eater. At least at home. At daycare, he's been eating those nuggets for a year or more.

But those nine (NINE!) nuggets were the first morsels of meat Munch has eaten for me in his entire life. HIS ENTIRE LIFE!!

I've tried nuggets before. Usually, his father or I end up eating them after he turns his head away with no interest at all. Like, "Woman, seriously? You thought I'd eat THAT?"

Last night, with less than zero hope that he would do anything but push the plate away, I gave him three nuggets, cut into fours.

He sat on my lap and watched videos of "the baby" (himself) on my iPhone (a post on raising a potential narcissist to come at a later date).

Without batting an eye, he picked up a nugget.

I tensed and clenched my teeth, wanting to give no reaction that I cared in the least whether that chicken passed his lips.

He ate it.

And reached for another.

And another.

When those were gone, he asked for "mo." When another three nuggets were gone ... he asked ... for "mo." And he ate them.

Internally, I rejoiced! I wanted to scream out into the rainy night: MY SON ATE CHICKEN NUGGETS!!!!!! IRON, IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER!!!!!!

But, I made like it was the most normal moment of our lives, happens every day, will happen again tomorrow.

No biggie.

After all, it's just dinner.

Puddle Jumpin

My son loves water of all kinds--whether it's a fountain splash park at Disney or a small backyard pool, this kid gravitates toward water and has to be IN IT if he sees it. Even "ucky allo" (yucky water), which he finds pooled at the bottom of a slide after a shower.

Run-of-the-mill puddles are no different. If it's raining out, I know that we won't be able to leave the house without a full-on desperate attempt to streak for the puddles and do a little one-two-three dance step in each one.

As adults, we generally avoid the puddles, both in our parking lots and in our lives. Puddles are messy. They make our feet wet. They are an inconvenience. We could do without puddles.

Yesterday afternoon, Munch and I sought out the puddles. It had rained off and on for a couple days, so the ground was wet, but not soaked. Puddles were there, but not plentiful. We had to look. And Munch seemed to know this was a search and discover mission, rather than a jump into everything mission.

Munch pointed at a puddle, sometimes so far away or small that it took me a moment to see it. Then we ran for it, enjoyed it for a moment, and then he pulled my hand to find the next one. We went throughout the parking lot, finding puddles and eliciting delight at every one.

My son teaches me that some things that I may find hum-drum, like puddles, are actually wondrous, if I just take a moment to enjoy them, if I forget about sneakers that will need to be dried or cold socks soaking my feet.

Today, look for the puddles. And hop in one.

5 Munch Bright Spots

After 2 non-blogging weeks--which was the first time I failed at one of my New Year's Resolutions, to blog at least once a week--I'm putting up a post that fights against the relative bleakness that has been April 2013. There have been bright spots--not the least of which being our trip to the Eastern Shore to do Munch's 2-year pictures, and that post is tops of my list to write.

But there's also been bombings and explosions, ailing family cats (my sister's), egg-icide (I had to move a bird's nest from my front door and it had eggs in it FML), daycare pseudo-drama, mind-failing grandparents, and various other stresses that have made it a trying month.

BUT through it all Munch has remained the brightest, most amazing spot, as always. And here are 5 reasons why.

1) How he squeezes my nose and when I go "meep-meep-meep" he laughs hysterically.

2) How after his 2-hour ride in the Cozy Coupe yesterday afternoon, when he's woken up from sleep and immediately says, "Bye-bye car." He handled the end of the ride so maturely, saying "Nigh-nigh car" as I locked it back in our shed.

3) How he squeals with delight when he sees the "wee" (playground with slide) come into view.

4) How he "shopped" in our living room Saturday night, picking up every item he could find (his bottle, random socks, toys) and put them in his shopping cart, jabbering the whole time.

5) How he says "Daddy" in a tone I unfortunately can't describe adequately in writing, after Hubs swings him or tickles him or chases him. In that one word is delight, father-son collaboration, head-shaking "how can you be so silly" wonder, and love.

Front-Facing Car Puke

This post should have been able to focus on a huge milestone--Munch, at 2 years old, is now front-facing in his carseat! Hubs and I have been so excited for this change, yet another step in growing up. No longer is Munch crunched against the back of the seat, his long legs folded over, with only himself in his monkey mirror to look at.

But. The first front-facing car ride was more exciting than Hubs and I ever could have dreamed.

Hubs heroically turned the seat around in under an hour, having to resort to an online reference video only once. Because the weather was finally nice, and to give Munch a treat, we decided to drive up to Wegmans, about a half hour away, instead of going to our normal grocery store just down the street.

At first, everything went as I envisioned: I kept turning around to say hi to Munch, he kept giving me his little "I can't believe I'm doing this" side-eye smile in return. About halfway through the trip, though, Munch's demeanor changed. He didn't smile in response. He hardly made eye contact. I told Hubs, "He's out of it." And I thought he was going to fall asleep.

We got to Wegmans and parked. Hubs and I turned around and I started to tell Munch about this great grocery store when ....

The child puked.

Horrible, wrenching heaves that wouldn't stop for quite some time.

I won't go into more detail. But believe me, it was bad. Puke. Everywhere.

I jumped out of the car and froze. The problem seemed so huge, I couldn't start to fix it. Hubs, bless his soul, went straight to the backseat and started extricating Munch, instructing me to get the extra outfit out of the diaper bag (thank God we still keep that thing kinda stocked!). Then I ran in to Wegmans (we're at a grocery store, self! they sell everything you could need) and got wet paper towels.

I changed poor, shaking Munch while Hubs, again heroically, started scrubbing out the car as best he could.

The biggest question (besides how we were going to make it home in such a disgusting car) was why the puke.

• First thought--car sick. Could it be a coincidence that on Munch's first front-facing ride, he threw up? Although, he's never showed any propensity for motion sickness, either in the car, as Daddy twirls him all over in their dancing and rough-housing, or on the Dumbo ride at Disney.
• Second thought--his medicine. Munch is on a very high dose of antibiotic to try to get rid of this lingering ear infection. 
• Third thought--bug. A stomach bug that could ravage the rest of us? Joy.

His doctor said that any one of these could be the problem. After he got home with no puking incident (of course, nothing was left in his stomach, but), she recommended that we give him his evening dose of medicine and see what happened.

What happened was, he puked in bed at 12:30am. Commence heroic Daddy again, cleaning up the sheets and starting to wash every lovie in Munch's crib. This time, though, Mommy didn't freeze and I washed poor again shaking Munch in the bath and then cuddled the poor thing to sleep.

So, not carsick. But, still could have been medicine. Or, could have been bug. We skipped 2 days of medicine and didn't give Munch any dairy on Sunday. We had no further puke incidents. Hubs and I both felt a bit off, but neither of us had incidents either.

So, the question of bug or medicine remains. And, he's back on the medicine and we're going on a car trip this weekend, so we should find that out in a few days.

Not fun, but yet another parental milestone dealt with--the dreaded car puke. We survived. And the car is being detailed as we speak.

Ear Infections Can Suck It

Waaaay back in January 2012, Munch got ear tubes when he was 9 months old. Though he was young, it was the absolute right decision; he'd endured infection after infection for months, really since he started getting the ever-present colds that accompany day care enrollment.

After the procedure, which was an incredibly stressful experience, Munch going under anethesia for the first time, his ear infections went away. He no longer needed to be on antibiotics pretty much every couple weeks. His speech blossomed. His tubes fell out last summer and September and I waited with bated breath. He got his typical colds through the fall and winter; rarely did he need an antibiotic and never for an ear infection. Hubs and I thought we were out of the woods.

Unfortunately, the ear infections are back.

Munch started with a cold near the end of February. He got a fever that seemed unexplainable. I should have known then: both ears infected. I was pretty disappointed, but, figured, it was bound to happen once.

At his 2-year appointment, 2 weeks later, the infection wasn't cleared up. The doctor put him on a different, more powerful antibiotic.

Today, it turns out that both ears, but his left especially, are infected. Still.

I'm completely pissed. Now we have yet another antibiotic--this will be 6 weeks of about the last 7 that Munch has been on medicine. I'm left wondering WHY his ears aren't responding to the medicine. I HATE that he's surely in pain, uncomfortable. And, the prospect of a second set of tubes looms.

He comes by his ear infections genetically--I myself had two sets of tubes and I have slight hearing loss from my early years of constant infections. I know this isn't an end of the world type thing. But I just want him better. I want his nose to be clear, his eyes ungooped. Free of pain.

We'll see what the next 2 weeks bring. Munch is being his typical self--happy, sleeping pretty well, energetic. Besides a couple pokes at his ear, I wouldn't have known from observing him that his ears were infected. This is both a good and bad thing. He's a trooper, our little Munch.

April Resolutions: Back to Basics

I love "turn the calendar" days. I love looking at the fresh, new pictures and the days falling out across the page, so much promise and potential.

After a (very) rough 2 weeks food-wise, it's time to get back on track. Once I go off, I have an incredibly hard time getting back on. So, with the incredibly stressful week leading up to Munch's and my birthdays, then that whole weekend, THEN Easter--Let's just say I'm not going to hit my 10lbs in 6 weeks goal. That's okay.

I've still got 2 weeks to Munch's pictures, and a lot of progress can be made in 2 weeks if I set my mind to it! Consider it set.

This Month's Resolutions:

• Track my food at least 5 days a week.
• Work out at least 4 days a week.
• Work on my novel 3 days a week (yes, I said it, novel).
•  Tidy up the living room each night.

Here's to a month of positive change and warmer weather!